by Tria Ross

Created on: May 05, 2009

People all across America (and in most of the world) are beginning to shake their heads and sigh at the horrible lack of respect today's teenagers have for... well, most things. But the truth is, teenagers themselves are being awarded with less and less consideration. It would be hypocritical to assume that teenagers should instantly have the utmost respect for each and every adult they come across, while at the same time brushing off the fact that said adults will most likely carry a prejudice with them just because the person in question is a certain age.

This prejudice stems from the narrow, stereotypical view that the common media attaches to teenagers. It has gotten to the point that parents are willing to pin these stereotypes to their children, and then judge them accordingly. But this ideas about how the teenage mind works rarely applies in any real-life scenario. Stereotypes sell, and that is exactly why Hollywood enforces them.

Many teenagers feel that they are not understood by anybody, and to tell the truth, many of them aren't. Many people, of all ages, can't see past the carefully rendered blond visage, or the wide black lines drawn meticulously around their eyes. Parents are constantly nagging their children to accept people for who they are, not what they look like- but then they turn around and ban their children from wearing certain clothing due tot he baseless fear that a superficial change will forever alter who their child really is.

One of the most hideously inaccurate misconceptions alive today relates to the existence of "cliques". This is not denying that they exist; a complex social network has evolved in society, going down to tight-knit groups of two or three, which hang around certain other groups, who then attach to a lager label or interest... But it is not, and has never been, true that each clique is unalterable. No clique will ever be able to be given one simple label, and it is one of the biggest faults you can make to think that members of one group will never associate with those of another. Those blond, peppy-looking girls have no problem making friends with anyone else, and filmmakers must not have set foot in any school for quite a long time to think otherwise.

However, this is still not to say that definitive labels exist. They do not. Slapping the title of 'jock' or 'goth' on somebody severely limits your ability to know them. Have you ever noticed that, when teenagers are asked to define themselves, one of the most common

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